All the Difference
by It's All A Facade
Summary: 5 times Lily notices James is different and 1 thing that hasn't changed at all. / A quiet fic focusing on James's seventh year character development, and Lily's views on it. Not very story shaped, just a series of small moments.


**A/N- Wow, first thing I've written in ages! Or, more accurately, the first thing I've finished in ages... Anyways, I hope you enjoy! It's just a series of quick drabbles/musings from Lily's perspective, my very much late attempt at a 5+1 fic.**

It was a relatively peaceful afternoon; Lily and James were sorting out patrols for the prefects in a table in the corner of the library. Above them, a window filtered sunlight into the room, casting a spotlight on dust motes idly floating through the air. There was a quiet sort of stillness to the air that not even James cared to break, which Lily appreciated. It was one of the numerous small changes she'd noticed in him since the beginning of the year; all of them subtle, all of them for the better.

It was nice, the comfortable silence. Cozy and tranquil, almost like they were the only ones in the world.

Their eyes flicked from lists of names to maps to timetables, and every now and then they'd glance up at each other and smile a little half-smile and go back to their work.

Lily could all too well imagine how this would have played out last year: James would have been firing off loud joke after loud joke, drumming his fingers against the table and tapping his foot restlessly, setting everything aflutter with small spells, all in a desperate bid for her attention.

Lily was so, so very glad it wasn't last year.

* * *

James acted differently around her now, Lily noticed. He didn't run his fingers through his hair anymore (except every once in awhile, when he'd unconsciously do it in frustration, but now it was less _annoying_ and more _adorable_ and- _when the bloody hell did that happen?_ ), he didn't keep that constant cocky smirk on his face, he stopped asking her out every five minutes like she'd change her mind in between firm _no_ 's.

Instead he'd walk with her to class, his friends and hers merging into a group that'd clog up the hallways. He'd help her in Transfiguration and she'd partner up with him in Charms; he showed her the secret entrance to the kitchens and she taught him all the right ways to get on Slughorn's good side so they could go to the parties together without actually being _together_.

And through it all, his smiles were genuine, his laughs always delighted, and his demeanor so casual and relaxed it was almost charming.

It was as though he'd finally become confident in himself by dropping all his false confidence. Like he finally trusted her enough to be himself.

* * *

It wasn't that he'd lost his energy completely, no. It was more like he'd finally come to peace with it, like he'd finally learned how to harness it instead of letting it control him.

* * *

His humor stopped coming at other people's expense. His punch lines weren't scorched robes or cheeks crimson with anger and humiliation. Just cheesy puns and witty lines, unexpected jokes that would make her laugh just with the sheer randomness of it.

He played pranks, still. Harmless pranks, tiny tricks that didn't need public humiliation to garner a laugh.

On a snowy December evening, at dinner, she turned away from her plate for one second, and when she looked back her meal had been transformed into a tiny winter wonderland: her mashed potatoes were surprisingly detailed snowmen, her broccoli a miniature Christmas tree, her carrots transformed into worktables for carefully put together pea elves.

James watched her with a knowing grin, and she conceded his victory with a playful sigh. She couldn't eat it, couldn't bring herself to ruin it. And it was only when she stole food from his plate for the rest of the night instead, marveling and wondering and laughing and absolutely not annoyed at all that she realized that maybe she'd changed too.

* * *

When it came around again, Lily had been expecting it. The words were the same, the tree they were sitting under and the Great Lake unchanged, and yet everything was different.

"Oi, Evans," he started, exactly and nothing like the way he used to. "Do you want to go out with me?"

And Lily felt something, impossibly, even warmer than the sun on her face, brighter than the sunlight reflecting on the lake's waters.

She smiled. "You know what, Potter? Yeah. I really do."

 **A/N- Hope you liked it! :-) As always, reviews will be rewarded with my eternal gratitude. Thanks for reading!**


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